Abubakar, others for Lagos Housing Fair

The 13thLagos Housing Fair will host former Head of State General Abdulsami Abubakar as the special guest of honour. The event will attract stakeholders in the built environment sector from April 29.

Other political leaders such as Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, General Yakubu Gowon and Dr Alex Ekwueme have graced past events. The theme of this year’s fair is ‘climate change and housing delivery’

In a chat with The Nation, Chairman of the fair, Mr Moses Ogunleye, said the theme was chosen based on the need to beam the searchlight on the implication of the climate change phenomenon on housing development. He said the idea is to direct the nation’s attention to the debilitating effects that climate change could have on all aspects of housing delivery, which include design, land use management, material use/specification, construction methodology, infrastructure as well as finance.

In addition, he said the fair will refocus on the issue of mitigation plans for housing management in view of the continuous likely negative impact of climate change on the housing sector, especially regarding the predicted excessive flooding of communities and towns by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

Last year’s rain and subsequent flooding led to untold hardship to the citizen as a result of losses in human and material form.

Quoting reports, Ogunleye, who is also a member of the Nigeria Environment Society, said the climate change phenomenon will impact heavily on the building construction sector.

The Housing Fair Chairman stated that most major cities in the country currently have heat Islands as they record higher temperature with higher sunshine period resulting in lower relative humidity.

Stressing the need for adapting mitigation strategies, he observed that buildings must be designed to more than ever withstand the vagaries of climate change with emphasis on design that enhance ventilation and natural lightening in order to reduce energy consumption.